Y L'Elixir
Yves Saint Laurent (2024)

Don't waste your money on this. It dies within an hour - or less. No longevity at all. Opt for the EDP version which is so much better, and cheaper, and a huge compliment getter. YSL really dropped the ball on this release and even with the discount at Macy's still feels like a rip off. Avoid.

I'm not a fan of this line, so that's a disclaimer. Y Elixir to me is an utterly generic and ordinary modern fragrance that doesn't merit the name or expectations. Y EdP turns out to be an excellent fragrance in comparison with Y Elixir.

Y Elixir smells to me as if it could be something named Y Sport rather than Elixir. After an hour or so, it becomes citrusy sour on my skin and not in a good or unique way, but rather generic and boring. There are no citrus notes listed, but my nose feels them. Also there's supposed to be oud note in here, but I just don't get it. I do feel the lavander.

Anticlimactic and disappointing, but not to a degree for a thumb down.

Originality 3/10
Scent 6/10
Longevity 9/10
Projection 6/10
Modernity 7/10
Overall impression 5/10

Y L'Elixir by Yves Saint Laurent (2024) is a game of oneupmanship being played by L'Oréal against both LVMH and Wertheimer with their Dior Sauvage Elixir (2021) and Bleu de Chanel Parfum (2018) respectively. This game has tentatively been joined by Coty with their Gucci Guilty Elixir de Parfum pour Homme (2024), but so few take the Gucci Guilty pour Homme (2011) line serious as is, that it seems a bit unfair to say it's even in the runnings alongside the other "big blue" elixirs or parfums. Hermès, having wisely chosen to stay out of this near 15-year-old arms race for the most potent and status-flexing banal blue man juice in the men's designer fragrance space, has only the now-venerable Terre d'Hermès Parfum (2009) to really represent anything remotely close, and it's in another universe comparatively, with the closest analog in style being the discontinued Acqua Di Giò Profumo by Giorgio Armani (2015) in terms of tone. On the other hand, the tone of Y L'Elixir is one of "look I can smell expensive too", which while nice, may have its limits for some, especially with an increasingly income-divided designer fragrance market more likely to buy boosted bottles on the gray market or let their deal-searching grandma get it off a blanket bazaar on a street corner from your local shoplifter, than buy it retail.

Having come down then, to a battle royale between YSL, Dior, and Chanel, representing their corporate owners respectively, the late-entering Y L'Elixir sees long-standing line perfumer Dominique Ropion deliver a punchy medicinal synth-oud base that has some slight nods to Yves Saint Laurent M7 (2002) in spirit, even if that fragrance alongside everything made prior to Yves Saint Laurent L'Homme (2006) was brutally executed by the corporate axeman at L'Oréal, for not still being a hip, trendy, bazillion best-seller after 20 years. Ugh. Anyway, I'm not herer to bemoan (again) the loss of nearly the entire YSL canon on the men's side, just say that Y L'Elixir takes what are basically the best parts of the best-selling Y Eau de Parfum (2018) and remix them with a drier, deeper, woodier base with touches of incense, the aforementioned synth oud, and a geranium sparkle missing from any other entry in the line. Overall, the scent profile here is incredibly smooth, taking out the sharp faux ambergris mineralic bite from the Eau de Parfum, and replacing it with resins, patchouli, and woods like a well-done Rasasi or Al Rehab. Performance is closer to the skin than perhaps one may like, but you'll have to scrub it off longevity-wise. This is the kind of thing that could replace the Eau de Parfum as a signature.

The real question is, after having the original Y Eau de Toilette pour Homme by Yves Saint Laurent (2017) soft-rebooted once in 2022 (mostly to bring it in line more with the EdP and remove the banned lillial), then added alongside Y Eau de Parfum intense by Yves Saint Laurent (2023), Y Parfum by Yves Saint Laurent (2022), and both the discontinued but mostly Europe-only Y Live by Yves Saint Laurent (2021), and discontinued Y Eau Fraiche by Yves Saint Laurent (2020), is there really room in your heart for yet another interpretation of this by-now worn-out style, itself really just a bandwagon jump for Paco Rabanne Invictus (2013)? While you're busy doing the mental gymnastics to justify buying a version of Y at 60ml for almost $200, clearly also adjusted to entice the Middle Eastern market with its more-resinous and smoky elements, I'll just leave it with the verdict that this is good if you've only stuck with the best-of-the-range EdP so far. People wanting to stay within that wheelhouse, and having not given YSL any money for additional flankers thus far, may have finally found the one "worth it", although as usual, I'm loathe to say it's worth the retail price. Is this the best of the Elixirs so far? I don't know, but L'Oréal will discontinue it if it doesn't sell by the buckets. Thumbs up

I left work early to go to Macy's to try this on, ready to hate it and tell you all that the Y line is trash and YSL should stick to l'homme. While the latter may be true... I actually like this.

Maybe because it smells exactly like BDC EDP. Or maybe I mean the Parfum, I forget which is which nowadays.

Anyways, this is well blended but not so blended you can't pick out notes. The woody citrusy top is on a base of rich masculine floral and a whisper of frankincense that ties this up like a bow. Really excellent work, but then again this is a Chanel that YSL unbelievably repackaged and resold for more. I don't know whether it's worse to pay Chanel prices or buy a shameless designer clone that's double the price of the original.